Hello Everyone. I want to share my experience with this interface as a heads up for everyone owning or thinking about getting a Fireface UCX II.

Earlier this year (March 2022) I bought a brand new unit (serial n 24069514) from the official RME seller here in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

My main purpose for the interface is live vocal auto-tune processing, and from the start the experience was great.
The sound was clean and crisp. We used AES with Shure Axient Digital, mic inputs and line inputs with Shure QLXD.
For us, having 8 inputs and 8 outputs from the get-go in such a small package is something AWESOME, specially for touring.

The interface is super easy to install, no problem with drivers either in Intel and M1 chips. I really like the Total Mix app and the fact that you can set up the interface from the front display too.

Having used UAD and Antelope interfaces in the past, I can say that this is the most near to plug and play interface there is in this "quality" range, and it is the most clean/noisless sound of everything I've heard, which is super important when processing for Live Shows.

I used this interface for several shows and rehearsals, it sustained well very hot and cold weather, dust, etc...

Unfortunatelly, on August 28th we got to a venue for a show in Monterrey, Mexico and when we turned on the interface, the displayed showed: Failure in bootloader, RAM error detected, 02000200.

Lucky for us, we had a back up, (serial n 24060088) that we continued to use until today with no problems yet.

After doing some research we found out that it was something not fixable, and not due to incorrect use but to a disfunctional part of the unit.

When we came home from touring, I wrote both RME support directly and EXOsound, which is the official RME seller and importer in Argentina.

Here is where the TERRIBLE experience start.

I had to create 3 different tickets for RME support to give me the answer " You need to take it to your official tech service for inspection ".

It seemed strange for RME to take that much time to give me some information.

While I was waiting for EXOsound tech support to inspect the unit, I was trying to get in touch directly to Synthax which is the official distributor for North and South America.

I talked to them and they admited that this was a strange issue with this model and had a rate of 0.2%. I have my doubts about this number, since this is a "new" model, there is a shortage of units, but still there are quite few people with this problem.

NOTE: This was the first "official" response I got from RME, and it was not even them directly, which was really annoying and got me worried about the whole situation.

Finally, like a month later, EXOSound inspects the unit, talks with RME and they told me the unit needed to be exchanged through warranty, but they did have any units left in Argentina, South America, neither in Europe, and there were few available in the US.

At that point EXOsound told me that due to our country new Custom policies they were unable to import new devices (this is obviously nothing to do with RME or EXOsound itself, its just a politic issue, not blaming anyone but our goverment for it).

I suggested that I could get someone travelling to the US to get me the exchanged unit in Miami, Florida and we both agreed that this was going to be the fastest way to get my replacement.

I want to notice that I continued touring with this Artist and needed the unit ASAP, as we were currently with out a back up unit and fearing that the same thing could happen again... (we had another interface just in case, but it was not a really A to B back up).

When I finally got someone available to get my interface from the US(about 1 or 2 weeks later) we tried to get in touch with RME US officials, but we couldn´t get an answer from them.
At this point the comunication was held beetween Julio Levinsonas which is the Commercial Director of EXOsound and RME officials.

So basically, they first told us they had a unit available for exchange in Fort Lauderdale offices in the US, but then they wouldn´t respond to our emails.
This streched more than 3 months until finally yesterday I got my new unit (serial n 24101933).

Personally I think its a shame that RME behaves this way. I think they were ignoring our claims due to unit shortage and that is disgusting.

I though RME was famous for working with Pros and I had a terrible experience with them.

I know things can go bad, and everything can fail, but the attitude they have and the customer support was awfull.

So... BEWARE users and people thinking about buying this interface in the future. Alltough it is apparently a strange issue, if you happen to incounter this you will have to wait a while to get a replacement, if you are even able to...